Cinco de Mayo ‘biggest day of year’ for Mexican eateries

It’s Cinco de Mayo all year long for the local Mexican eateries that bear that name — but the day itself is always one of the busiest days of the year, local restaurant managers said.

Cinco de Mayo, which is Spanish for “fifth of May,” is “the biggest weekend of the year,” said Arturo Castro, assistant manager at Cinco De Mayo Mexican Bar & Grill at 304 E. Alexis Road.

The eatery’s annual celebration will be bigger than last year, featuring the return of a jalapeño-eating contest at 5 p.m. May 4 and 5, Castro said.

Also on the calendar is a Tony Orlando revue and Elvis tribute contest 2-5 p.m. May 4 and folkloric dancers at 5 p.m. May 4 and 5. Starting at 4 p.m. May 5, there will be a live band downstairs and DJ and karaoke upstairs. Happy hour, featuring 12-ounce margaritas for $3.75, is 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Carlos Fuentes, owner of La Fiesta Restaurante in Maumee, agreed Cinco de Mayo is “the biggest day of the year.”

The 1406 S. Reynolds Road eatery will feature a tent in the parking lot on May 5. Pints of draft beer and Mexican bottled beer will be $2.75. Margaritas will also be on special. DJ Excel will perform all night starting at 3 p.m. The Bradberries will perform at 6 p.m. There will also be giveaways all day.

“Any day we can give something back to our customers and pay them back what they give to us all year round is a good day,” Fuentes said. “This is the way I see it — a day you can celebrate with your customers.”

La Fiesta will also host a “warm-up party” May 3 and 4, featuring jumbo margaritas for $6.25 and 23-ounce domestic drafts for $2.99.

“A lot of people think Cinco de Mayo is Independence Day for Mexico, but it’s not,” said El Camino Real owner Jesus Angel. That’s Sept. 16. The May 5 holiday honors a great military victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

The festivities at El Camino Real, 2500 W. Sylvania Ave., will kick off May 2 with “the biggest guacamole ever made,” featuring free guacamole and chips to the first 100 people starting at 3 p.m., Angel said. Guacamole mash will be free to the first 100 people May 4.

The eatery will also feature a jalapeño toreado-eating contests on May 2, 3 and 5, burrito-eating contests on May 3 and 5 and a taco-eating contest on May 4. Folkloric dancers and a mariachi band will perform May 3. May 4 will feature $1 off drinks. May 5 will also feature a variety of DJs from local radio stations and plenty of giveaways all weekend, Angel said.

El Vaquero — with locations at The Docks, on Secor Road and in Perrysburg — will feature “five days of fun” starting May 1, said general manager Arne Lopez. There will be live DJs broadcasting on 101.5 The River from all three locations on May 5.

Specials include all Mexican beers, buckets of beer and pitchers of margaritas.

“It’s a party,” Lopez said. “It’s going to be a great day for a deal.”

Jeanie Kunzer, owner of Loma Linda, is excited because Cinco de Mayo falls on the Swanton eatery’s Margarita Monday this year.

Mi Hacienda, 3302 Glanzman Road, will offer food and drink specials all weekend, including half-off beer, 12-ounce margaritas and jumbo house margaritas during happy hour from 2-6 p.m. May 5-6. Food specials include a $5.99 taco dinner on May 5 and $2 off fajitas on May 6. There will be a DJ on the patio on May 5.

Other events

The Toledo Zoo will host its 14th annual Cinco de Mayo event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 4, including performances from DJ Tony Rios at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and the El Corazon de Mexico Ballet Folklorico at noon and 2 p.m. There will also be a piñata at 1 p.m. and cultural crafts throughout the day, said zoo events coordinator Jen Brassil. The events are free with a paid zoo admission.

“Compared to other Cinco de Mayo celebrations, we’re very family-oriented,” Brassil said. “I think people just love to see the performances and all the costumes.”

Bowling Green State University’s Latino Student Union and Latino Networking Alliance will celebrate Cinco de Mayo a week early. Its Latinopalooza event, featuring “food, games and fun” will take place 1-5 p.m. April 26 on the University Hall lawn.

Adela and her family have been a force on the Toledo restaurant scene for years. The family, which included siblings Connie Barron, Delores King, Rhoda Baldwin, Marie Hinojosa and Arturo Cavazos, opened Loma Linda in 1955 and has been involved in many restaurants, including Ventura’s, Arturo’s Fritz & Alfredo’s, Barron’s Café and Casa Barron.

Adela Mundt and her family at their restaurant Loma Linda.

Adela and her siblings grew up in the restaurant industry.

“You didn’t have an eight-hour shift. There was no such thing as an eight-hour shift. You worked from the time you came in to the time that it was time to close up. And you couldn’t say you were tired,” Adela said.

The restaurant started out as the Last Roundup before transitioning to serve Mexican-style food and going by Loma Linda. A family friend taught Adela’s mother how to cook in regional style of Puebla, Mexico, Adela said.

Originally, the restaurant’s menu didn’t have prices on it.

“If you came in and looked like you were poor, you didn’t pay much,” Kunzer said.

Today sales are steady, although Adela has observed some differences since the beginning.

“People don’t order the way they used to. They don’t overeat like they used to. They don’t overdrink like they used to. And your sales stay pretty much the same,” she said.

Adela added that she is grateful to the Toledo-area community for her family’s success.

“At this time in our lives, we have acquired a lot. And I’m not saying monetary. I’m saying we’ve acquired things people dream about,” she said, adding that she is passing on some of that success to her younger family members like Kunzer.

Kunzer started working at Loma Linda in 1978. Although she and Adela’s son Mike divorced, she continued working at the eatery.

“Something that once was isn’t anymore,” she said. “There’ll be customers that come in and say, ‘You won’t see me anymore. I just got divorced and my wife, we’ve been here for forever, she won this in the divorce.’ And I’m like, ‘What?!’”

Loma Linda is located at 10400 Airport Hwy., Swanton. Hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.